May 15 (Bloomberg) -- Nintendo Co. led the U.S. game- console market to its second consecutive month of slumping sales after purchases of the company’s flagship Wii console tumbled by a record 52 percent.

U.S. stores sold 340,000 Wii players in April, down from 714,000 a year earlier, NPD Group Inc. said yesterday in a statement. Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 console fell 7 percent to 175,000 and retail checkouts of Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 slid 32 percent to 127,000.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, 49, said this month he’s “not optimistic” about demand in the U.S. market. The Kyoto- based company on May 7 forecast its sales of the motion-sensing player will rise less than 1 percent to 26 million consoles globally in the year ending March 2010.

“We think the market potential of Wii may have peaked out,” Satoru Kikuchi, a Tokyo-based analyst at Deutsche Bank AG, wrote in a May 11 report. “We think the market will begin to lower expectations on Nintendo, which is likely to enter a period of profit decline.”

Nintendo fell 0.8 percent to close at 26,040 yen in Osaka trading. Sony rose 7.1 percent in Tokyo after Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price estimates for the stock, citing progress in the company’s cost cuts and the prospect of a recovery at the electronics business. Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, gained 31 cents to $20.06 on May 14 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.

Wii Fit, Pokemon

Industry sales, which rose 19 percent last year, declined 17 percent in April, according to NPD, a researcher based in Port Washington, New York.

Sales of video-game titles fell 23 percent to $510.7 million in April, according to NPD. Hardware sales declined 8 percent to $391.6 million. Sony sold 172,000 PlayStation 2 systems after a price cut to $99.

Nintendo had the four top-selling games in April, including “Wii Fit,” which sold 471,000 copies, and “Pokemon Platinum,” with sales of 433,000. Electronic Arts Inc.’s “Godfather II” was the fifth-best seller, with 155,000 in sales for the Xbox.

In April, Nintendo sold 1.04 million DS handheld players in the U.S., including more than 800,000 of the new DSi. Sony’s rival PS handheld device sold 116,000, according to NPD.

The April decline came as U.S. retail spending unexpectedly dropped, hurt by rising unemployment and falling home values that led consumers to conserve money.

Tough Month

“It’s been a tough month across the board in all categories, and it’s likely that it’s impacting video games,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo’s U.S. executive vice president of sales and marketing. Wii sales should pick up after the release of games including “Punch Out” on May 18, she said.

Last week, Nintendo said slowing demand for the Wii may lead to a 12 percent drop in operating profit, missing the estimates of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Sony forecast a second straight full-year loss yesterday. The Tokyo-based company expects to sell 13 million PS3s this year, half the 26 million Wii consoles that Nintendo projects.

The slump also is affecting game publishers. Electronic Arts, based in Redwood City, California, reported its ninth consecutive loss last week. THQ Inc., the Agoura Hills, California-based maker of “WWE” wrestling video games, reported its fifth consecutive loss.

Sales in April 28 surged nearly 50 percent after the release of “Grand Theft Auto IV” and “Mario Kart,” NPD said.

“Grand Theft Auto IV” sold 2.85 million units for the Xbox 360 and PS3, while “Mario Kart” sold 1.12 million copies for Nintendo’s system.

“The primary driver of console sales is software,” said Daniel Ernst, an analyst with Hudson Square Research in New York. “When you’re going against the two biggest games from last year it’s hard to draw any substantial conclusions.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Satariano in San Francisco at asatariano1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 15, 2009 06:40 EDT